WklBadge

Dim myWklBadge As WklBadge
Set myWklBadge = Me!ControlName.Object

A count (“3”, “99+”) or a dot on a corner of another control of the same form section, as Outlook and Teams mark unread items: for Access buttons, labels, images and text boxes, which have no badge of their own.

None

Put the badge anywhere in the section, set Target to the name of the control it belongs to and Corner to the corner; in form view the badge places itself on that corner and follows the control when code moves it, resizes it or hides it. In design view the badge stays where it was drawn: moving it there would change the form.

Fill it in one of two ways:

• By code: set Count, or Dot for a mark without a number.
• Bound: set the badge's Control Source (ControlSource of the Access control) to a field or an expression, for example =DCount("*","tblSessions","IsOpen"). Access writes the value into Value on every record change; a bound badge never writes back and does not mark the record as changed.

What shows: a number shows as a count, above Max as “99+”; zero, a negative count, Null and text that is no number hide the badge (zero shows when HideZero is False). A dot badge shows without any value and follows a count when there is one; Null hides it as well, because “nothing known” must not look like “something new”.

Colors: the badge uses the accent colors of the kind (wskBad, red, by default), from Kind or per record from the field named in KindField; UseAccentColor and AccentColor set an own color, and the text then takes white or black, whichever contrasts more. In Windows high contrast the badge takes the system highlight colors.

The badge has the same pill and the same rules as the badges of WklButton (BadgeCount) and WklNavBar (SetBadge); those controls draw their badge themselves and need no WklBadge.

Screen readers hear “Sessions: 120” - the subject, then the full count, never “99+” - and, with Announce, every change. The subject is AccessibleText, else the caption of the target, else its name.

Limits:

• Access draws a subform over every ActiveX control, so a badge on a subform stays hidden behind it; put it beside the subform.
• Not in the detail section of a continuous form: Access creates one instance there, and a bound ActiveX control in the detail section keeps Access from opening the form. In the form header and footer the badge works.
• The tabs of a tab control are not controls; a badge cannot follow a tab.

An ActiveX control: inserted into a form in design view (Form Design › Controls › ActiveX Controls); reports are not supported. VBA reaches it through the Object property of the control, where ControlName is the name of the control on the form.

' The number of open sessions on the button cmdSessions.
Private Sub Form_Load()
    With Me!badSessions.Object
        .Target = "cmdSessions"
        .Corner = wbcTopRight
        .AccessibleText = "Open sessions"
        .Count = DCount("*", "tblSessions", "IsOpen")
    End With
End Sub

None

Property Get Count() As Long
Property Let Count(RHS As Long)

Gets or sets the count shown.

None

Property value: Long – The count; values above Max show as “Max+”, zero and below hide the badge unless HideZero is False.

Setting Count replaces Value. Reading it returns 0 for Null, for a badge without value and for a Value that is no number.

Read/write.

None

Declared by WklBadge.

Property Get Value() As Variant
Property Let Value(RHS As Variant)

Gets or sets the bound value: Access writes the value of the Control Source into it on every record change.

None

Property value: Variant – A number, a text holding a number, True (counts as 1), or Null (hides the badge).

Before any value arrives, Value is Empty: a dot badge shows, a count badge stays hidden. The value is not stored with the form, and the badge never reports it back to Access.

Read/write.

None

Declared by WklBadge.

Property Get Dot() As Boolean
Property Let Dot(RHS As Boolean)

Gets or sets whether the badge is a dot without a number.

None

Property value: Boolean – True: a dot; False (default): the count.

Read/write.

None

Declared by WklBadge.

Property Get Max() As Long
Property Let Max(RHS As Long)

Gets or sets the highest count shown as a number.

None

Property value: Long – 1 or more; 99 (default) shows 120 as “99+”. Values below 1 raise wkeInvalidValue.

Read/write.

None

Declared by WklBadge.

Property Get HideZero() As Boolean
Property Let HideZero(RHS As Boolean)

Gets or sets whether a count of zero hides the badge.

None

Property value: Boolean – True (default): hidden; False: “0” (or the dot).

Read/write.

None

Declared by WklBadge.

Property Get Kind() As WklStatusKind
Property Let Kind(RHS As WklStatusKind)

Gets or sets the kind whose accent colors the badge uses.

None

Property value: `WklStatusKind` – A WklStatusKind; wskBad (red, default).

With KindField the property returns the kind of the current record; the designed value applies when the field is empty or unknown. Values outside 0-4 raise wkeInvalidValue.

Read/write.

None

Declared by WklBadge.

Property Get KindField() As String
Property Let KindField(RHS As String)

Gets or sets the name of a field or control of the form whose value is the kind of the badge.

None

Property value: String – A field of the form's record source or a control name; empty (default) for none. The field holds 0-4 or a name (neutral, ok, warn, bad, info); other values count as neutral.

The field is read with every value and on Refresh. On UserForms there is no record; the designed Kind applies.

Read/write.

None

Declared by WklBadge.

Property Get AccentColor() As OLE_COLOR
Property Let AccentColor(RHS As OLE_COLOR)

Gets or sets an own fill color.

None

Property value: OLE_COLOR – An OLE color, also a system color; it applies only while UseAccentColor is True.

Read/write.

None

Declared by WklBadge.

Property Get UseAccentColor() As Boolean
Property Let UseAccentColor(RHS As Boolean)

Gets or sets whether AccentColor replaces the color of the kind.

None

Property value: Boolean – True: AccentColor; False (default): the color of Kind.

Read/write.

None

Declared by WklBadge.

Property Get Target() As String
Property Let Target(RHS As String)

Gets or sets the control the badge belongs to.

None

Property value: String – The name of a control on the same form (or UserForm); empty (default): the badge stays where it is.

A name that does not exist raises no error; TargetFound then returns False and the badge stays where it is. The badge follows place, size and visibility of the target in form view, checked five times a second; it writes its own Left, Top, Width and Height only when they change.

Read/write.

None

Declared by WklBadge.

Property Get Corner() As WklBadgeCorner
Property Let Corner(RHS As WklBadgeCorner)

Gets or sets the corner of the target the badge stands on.

None

Property value: `WklBadgeCorner` – A WklBadgeCorner; wbcTopRight (default). Values outside the enumeration raise wkeInvalidValue.

Read/write.

None

Declared by WklBadge.

Property Get OffsetX() As Long
Property Let OffsetX(RHS As Long)

Gets or sets a shift of the badge to the right, in twips.

None

Property value: Long – Twips; negative values shift to the left; 0 (default).

The badge never moves beyond the top or left edge of its section: Access does not accept negative positions.

Read/write.

None

Declared by WklBadge.

Property Get OffsetY() As Long
Property Let OffsetY(RHS As Long)

Gets or sets a shift of the badge downwards, in twips.

None

Property value: Long – Twips; negative values shift upwards; 0 (default).

Read/write.

None

Declared by WklBadge.

Property Get AccessibleText() As String
Property Let AccessibleText(RHS As String)

Gets or sets what the badge counts, for screen readers.

None

Property value: String – For example Open sessions; empty (default): the caption of the target (without &), or else its name.

Read/write.

None

Declared by WklBadge.

Property Get Announce() As Boolean
Property Let Announce(RHS As Boolean)

Gets or sets whether screen readers announce every change of the badge.

None

Property value: Boolean – True (default); False: the badge is read only when the user goes to it.

Read/write.

None

Declared by WklBadge.

Property Get Clickable() As Boolean
Property Let Clickable(RHS As Boolean)

Gets or sets whether the badge takes clicks itself.

None

Property value: Boolean – False (default): a click on the badge goes to the control below it, usually the target; True: the badge raises Click.

Access gives every ActiveX control TabStop = Yes, so Tab would stop on the badge. A badge with Clickable False is a mark, not something to operate: in form view it switches TabStop of its Access control off. With Clickable True, TabStop stays as designed.

Read/write.

None

Declared by WklBadge.

Property Get TargetFound() As Boolean

Gets whether the target was found the last time the badge looked for it.

None

Property value: Boolean – True when the target exists in form view; False without Target, in design view, or for a name that does not exist.

Read-only.

None

Declared by WklBadge.

Sub Refresh()

Reads KindField again and places the badge on its target again, for example after code changed the field of the kind.

None

None

None

Declared by WklBadge.

Event Click()

Occurs when the user clicks a badge whose Clickable is True, or a screen reader invokes it.

None

In a form module: Private Sub <ControlName>_Click(...). Parameters passed by reference can be changed by the procedure.

None

Declared by WklBadge.